Cincinnati Cyclones Weekly

COMING UP: The Cincinnati Cyclones play a pair of games at U.S. Bank Arena this week, looking to move back into first place in the North Division. The week starts tomorrow with a 7pm game at Dayton. On Wednesday (Nov. 14), Trenton visits Cincinnati for a 7:30pm tilt on a 'Wet Wednesday' (one dollar Pabst Blue Ribbon beer all night). UFC fighter Rich Franklin pays a visit to the Cyclones when they host Wheeling Friday night (Nov. 16) at 7:30pm. The week ends on Sunday (Nov. 18) with another visit to Dayton at 5pm.

THAT WAS GROOVY: The Cyclones had 6430 fans attend the 'Throwback Night' game against the Augusta Lynx on Saturday night. Cincinnati dropped a 4-3 verdict in overtime, but gained a point in the standings for their effort. Thomas Beauregard, Jean-Michel Daoust and Avery Wilson netted the goals in the contest.

WEEK IN REWIND: Cincinnati went 2-0-1 on the week and was in first place for two of the days. Wednesday night (Nov. 7), the Cyclones handed Wheeling a 4-0 blanking, as Cedrick Desjardins turned away all 26 shots he faced and rookie Billy Irish-Baker had his first two goal game as a professional. Thursday night (Nov. 8), Cincinnati kicked the offense into overdrive with an 8-1 pasting of Augusta. Mathieu Aubin, Thomas Beaurgeard and Avery Wilson each notched a pair of goals. Saturday night, Augusta earned a measure of revenge with the 4-3 overtime win.

ALL CHUCK DOES IS WIN...: Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber has a 43-32-7 record (.567 winning percentage), the best in team history. Only Warren Young (100 wins) has claimed more victories than Weber and it took him three complete seasons to accomplish the feat. That winning percentage is the best of any coach in the North Division since the start of last season.

CEDRICK WAS SUPER: Cyclones goaltender Cedrick Desjardins became the second player in club history to have back-to-back shutouts, after blanking Wheeling on Wednesday. Between the third period Halloween Night (Oct. 31) and the first period Saturday (Nov. 10), Desjardins went 138:41 without surrendering a score. Dieter Kochan (1997-98) holds the club record of 139:35 without allowing a goal.

WILSON PUTS HANDS TO WORK: Enetering Thursday's game against Augusta, Avery Wilson had scored exactly one goal in his 67 games in the ECHL. Since the Lynx arrived, Wilson has scored three goals (two Thursday--his first multi-goal game as a pro). The scoring touch is not how Avery's hands are best known in town, he spends time training at the same gym--and sometimes with--Rich Franklin, who will be the special guest at the Cyclones' game Friday night at U.S. Bank Arena when the club hosts Wheeling.

GOOD THINGS COME IN PAIRS: Four players had a pair of goals in a game last week, as Billy Irish-Baker had a pair in the win over Wheeling on Wednesday. Mathieu Aubin, Thomas Beauregard and Avery Wilson each had a pair of goals in the win Thursday night. Cedrick Desjardins made it back-to-back shutouts on Wednesday and the crowd was entertained with fights from Matt Syroczynski and Wilson on Saturday. The Cyclones play Dayton in a pair of road games this week...

BEAUREGARD KNOWS SCORING: Rookie forward Thomas Beauregard has a three-game goal scoring streak and leads the Cyclones with seven goals. Last season, Beauregard led the QMJHL with 71 goals for Acadia-Bathurst. Thomas has points in six of the ten games he has played as a pro. He presently ranks third in the ECHL among rookies in goal scoring (seven) and is sixth in points (eleven).

CROWDED: The 6430 to see the game Saturday on 'Throwback Night' was the fifth-largest crowd to see the club play. It was also the most attended game at U.S. Bank Arena since Jan. 24, 2003 when 6814 rolled in to see the Cyclones battle Wheeling.

WINNING WAYS: The Cyclones have a 6-3-1 record on the year (.650 winning percentage), the seventh-best record in the ECHL. The team is also tied for seventh in the league in road wins (three) and could move into a tie for fifth place on the circuit with a win tomorrow night.

MILLER HAS ENJOYED HIS TIME: Defenseman Gerard Miller was released from his AHL on Oct. 29 and joined the Cyclones in time for their first extended road trip of the season. Miller had points in his first six games, until Saturday night. Gerard ranks eleventh in the ECHL among defensemen with seven points.

SCHMIDT EQUALLY UP TO THE TASK: Cyclones defenseman Bryan Schmidt has been equally adept in accumulating points on defense. Schmidt ranks seventh among defensemen with eight points and seven of those coming on the power play.

NO FUNNY BUSINESS HERE: Hockey fans may try to figure that because Gerard Miller and Bryan Schmidt are both defensemen, they must be playing together to accumulate these point totals. Miller and Schmidt are both right-handed shots and do not play together. Cyclones defensemen have been adept at joining the play in 2007-08, accumulating 28 (6-22-28) of the team's 102 scoring points (27.5 percent). Last season, the blueliners collected 119 (18-101-119) points of the 564 scoring points (21.1 percent) the team gathered.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS: The Cyclones have the ECHL's second-best penalty kill percentage at 87.7 percent. During the month of November, Cincinnati has eliminated all but four of the man-disadvantage situations faced (89.7 percent) in 39 opportunities. Five times this season, the Cyclones have not surrendered a power play goal and they are 5-0 in those games.

LOCK DOWN: The Cyclones are giving up an average of 25.70 shots per game, the fewest in the ECHL. Cincinnati has held three opponents this season to 20 or fewer shots. The Cyclones have squeezed off more shots than the opponents in eight of the ten games played so far.

JEFFERSON HALL ON MONDAYS: The Cyclones Coaches Show airs every Monday at Jefferson Hall at Newport on the Levee. The show, featuring Head Coach Chuck Weber, takes place every Monday night from 7-8pm and is carried live on SuperTalk FM 96.5. The show is also carried on the station's website: www.suprtalkfm965.com. Cedrick Desjardins and Bryan Schmidt will be the guests this week.